It grows at damp habitats, mostly in coastal areas and has extremely light wood. It typically reaches 2-4 m tall, occasionally up to 8 m. The leaves are alternate, simple lanceolate, 5-20 cm long and 3-6 cm broad.
In the past, it was treated as the only species in the family Leitneriaceae of the order Leitneriales, but genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has recently resulted in its being transferred to the family Simaroubaceae in the Sapindales.
American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 (American Chemical Society) The American Chemical Society News Service Weekly Press Package contains reports from 36 major peer-reviewed journals on chemistry, health, medicine, energy, environment, food, nanotechnology and other hot topics. H. Pylori bacteria may help prevent some esophageal cancers Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 (American Association for Cancer Research) Some bacteria may help protect against the development of a type of esophageal cancer, known as adenocarcinoma, according to a new review of the medical literature. These bacteria, which are called Helicobacter pylori, live in the stomachs of humans. Metastatic movements in 3-D Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 (Rockefeller University Press) Caswell et al. report in the Journal of Cell Biology how the altered behavior of integrins can prompt metastatic movement in tumor cells.